


It's a long way to dawn

by Varpusvaras



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, How Do I Tag, M/M, let's mix up ghibli scenery with other stuff, more characters tagged as they come
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-11 00:30:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16465244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Varpusvaras/pseuds/Varpusvaras
Summary: Sora was happy. He really was. The only things bothering him were the fact that Riku did not call him often enough, and that Riku and Kairi were way too far away from him in the first place, and that people were far too quick to judge others.But he was fine with everything else. Really.Sometimes, he'd wish things were different. That he wouldn't be left behind.He should've been a little more careful with that.





	It's a long way to dawn

Sora was not a morning person.

It was not like he couldn’t be awake at early hours. it was mostly the act of waking up he was not keen of at all, so he would just postpone it as long as he possibly could.

It was pretty hard, though, when there was a large dog nudging his face with a cold nose very enthusiastically.

 

“Noooo”, Sora tried to turn away and pull his blanket over his head, but that only made the nudging more persistent and excited.

“Goofy, no, stoooooop…”

 

Goofy did stop, but it didn’t matter anymore at that point. Sora was already awake, and he could feel the dog’s eyes on him, waiting patiently for him to get out of the bed.

He could maybe get couple of more minutes or warm bed before Goofy would get impatient and start the nudging again, but right then the smell of breakfast coming from downstairs reached Sora as well.

 

And with that, his stomach growled, and Sora was completely awake.

 

Well, sort of. At least he was awake enough to roll off the bed and get on his feet. Goofy started wagging his tail wildly, and he followed Sora around the room as he searched for his clothes.

 

“Yes, yes, you’re a very good boy”, Sora patted the dog’s head as he tugged his pants on to his legs with his other hand.

“Do you see my shirt anywhere? Oh, there it is…”

 

Goofy waited at the door as Sora dusted his shirt and inspected it for stains. There was one right at the hem, but it was pretty small, so Sora doubted anyone would notice.

 

“Okay, Goofy, lead the way”, Sora said, trying his best to smooth down his hair. It didn’t look that much different from his bed hair, but it was all that he could do to it. Goofy turned around and briskly walked out of the room and down the stairs from the attic to the second floor and then down to the bakery, Sora coming right behind, tugging his shirt inside his pants.

 

Aerith was already behind the counter, arraying freshly baked bread rolls to their place in display. Goofy walked up to her and barked softly.

 

Aerith lifted her gaze from the counter to see Sora walking down the last steps.

 

“Good morning”, she smiled at him.

“Goofy came to wake you up? He’s gotten good in knowing your schedule.”

 

“Morning”, Sora gave a still sleepy smile back at her.

“He’s a little too good in it. Where did he learn how to open doors?”

 

“You have to ask Zack about that”, Aerith laughed softly, scratching Goofy behind the dog’s floppy ears.

“There’s waffles and eggs in the kitchen, if you’d like. And second batch of rolls is in the oven right now, so feel free to take one when they’re ready.”

 

“Thank you”, Sora yawned, glancing at the big oven on the other side of the kitchen, which was visible from where he was standing.

“Do you need help with anything?”

 

“No, no, I’m fine”, Aerith assured, continuing to arrange the bread.

“Zack helped with everything else already before leaving, so there’s not really anything left to do.”

 

“Zack left already?” It was still an early morning, and the sun was just starting to shine inside of the bakery’s windows, making it bask in white, pale light.

 

“He had an early shift”, Aerith nodded.

“He said one of the guards had gotten sick, so he is standing in for them.”

 

“Oh, okay”, Sora walked in to the kitchen.

“Did he remember to take his lunch with him?”

 

“Oh!” Aerith turned around and took one look at the counter behind her, which had a brown bag on top of it, leaning on to the cabinet.

“Oh, no.”

 

“Don’t worry, I can bring it to him!” Sora grinned over his shoulder as he took himself a plate and started loading it with waffles.

“I’ll come by after my first job.”

 

“Oh, thank you”, Aerith smiled at him again.

“Where are you going?”

 

“Mrs. Humphries needed some help with her greenhouse”, Sora answered, putting the first bite in his mouth.

“I’ve gotta be there at seven.”

 

Aerith blinked, and checked the clock on the wall over the counter.

 

“It’s already half past six”, he pointed out.

“Mrs. Humphries lives all the way at the Eastern riverfront.”

 

Sora stopped his chewing for few seconds, before he shot up from his chair, swallowing haphazardly.

 

“I’ll finish these later!” he shouted, dashing through the table area to the door.

 

“I’ll put them in the fridge!” Aerith called after him, as Sora was already hallway through the door.

“Put up the open-sign, would you?”

 

“Okay, thanks, sure, bye!” Sora waved at her, and then he was out.

 

 

The city was just starting to wake up as Sora hurried down the streets of the Western hillside. He was just in time before the morning rush would explode in to its full force, making it nearly impossible to get around quickly in the central city. And Vertness was only a very moderate-sized city, and Sora could only imagine how bad the rush was in bigger cities

 

Cities like Citadel.

 

He arrived at the plaza. All the shops were opening their doors around it, people waving at him as he passed by.

 

“Good morning Sora!”

 

“Good morning Ms. Aureli! Morning Mr. Gwinn!” Sora tried to greet back in between taking breaths.

 

“Are you late again?” Mr. Gwinn asked as Sora rushed past him.

 

“Not yet!” Sora shouted. He could hear Mr. Gwinn laugh hard behind him.

 

“Well, stop by when you are not in hurry!” Mr. Gwinn yelled after him, still laughing.

“I have a job and a lunch waiting for you!”

 

“Sure thing!” Sora hoped that he would still hear him over the growing distance between them.

 

He would have to be fast with visiting Zack after this, then, if he wanted to be back before lunchtime was over.

 

At the other end of the plaza was an alley hat led him right to the Western side of the river, near the dock of the riverboat that sailed back and forth between Vertness and Renaize twice a day. The dock was already empty, meaning that it was past quarter to seven.

 

Oh, great. If Mrs. Humphries disliked anything, it was people who were late.

 

He would get to the other side faster by the Northern bridge. Mrs. Humphries lived only few houses away from it, right next to the one side of the Cathedral Park.

 

He could still make it and be at Mrs. Humphries’ door at seven o’clock exact. He just needed to calculate his every step just right.

 

Sora thanked the early hours for the fact that the riverside wasn’t as busy as it would be later towards the midday. The sidewalk was empty for him to accelerate without of the fear of colliding with anything or anyone. The only person besides him who was already there was Mr. Koji, who was setting up his canvas on the other side of the bank, and Sora called out a quick morning to him as well.

 

The Northern bridge came closer, and Sora grimaced as he saw the scaffolding all around it.

 

Oh. That’s right. He had heard Aerith talk about the reconstruction of the bridge maybe a couple of days ago. She had particularly reminded him to use the Southern bridge, in case “you’re running late and need to get to the other side as quickly as possible, so you don’t have to make a detour”, as she had put it.

 

Well. At least she had told him about it. Sora slowed down a bit.

 

It would definitely take him too much time to turn around and use the Southern bridge. He wouldn’t even be a little late, he would be a late a lot. And then Mrs. Humphries would look at him very disapprovingly from under her greying brows, which Sora knew was one of the most depressing sights he had ever witnessed in his entire life. And then he would be late to help with the greenhouse, and in case it would take long, he would be late to everywhere else for the rest of the day as well, or at least be in a constant hurry.

Not that it would be the first time that had happened. But it would not be good neither for business nor for his legs or stomach, because if he was in hurry, he most definitely wouldn’t have time to stop for lunch at Mr. Gwinn’s. So he needed a new plan and fast.

 

Sora took a calculating look of the bridge from one end to another. The reconstruction was already in full force, as he could see a gap in the middle of the bridge, with all of the stones missing from around the supporting wooden structure.

He measured the gap. It didn’t look too big, maybe twenty feet or twenty-two. It was hard to be exactly sure from far away, but the most important thing anyway was that, like said, the gap didn’t look too big.

 

Sora picked up the speed again. He could get arrested at worst. In the most likely scenario, he would be fined. In the best case, he would only receive a warning. But hey, he wasn’t going to hurt anyone, just trespass very briefly, so the punishment wouldn’t probably be too harsh.

He ran up the bridge, passing a couple of construction workers in full speed, and it took them a few seconds to realise that someone had just went past them to the very much closed up area.

 

“Hey!” Sora heard one of them yell after him.

“The bridge is out of use!”

 

Sora didn’t even bother to answer. He ducked under a stack of planks carried by another worker before they would hit him in the face. He could see the gap already, right in front of him. He couldn’t afford to slow down now.

The yell had alerted the other workers, and now they did notice him, running between them and the scaffolds towards the gap.

 

“You! Stop!” one of them tried to grab him, Sora saw the arm coming at him in a blur, but he managed to dodge it by few inches at most. He ducked his head low to make himself smaller and to catch up last of the needed momentum.

 

The gap came closer and closer with every step. Up close it looked much wider than from the distance, and Sora quickly realised that the gap was more closer to twenty-five than twenty-two feet.

Well, couple of more feet were not going to make that much of a difference. Sora bit his teeth together and put all of his concentration to his footing.

 

Thirty feet. Twenty-five. There was no one in between him and the gap.

Fifteen feet. Ten feet. There were heavy footsteps and more shouting coming from behind him, but Sora knew that they were not going to catch him.

 

Then the gap was right in front of him, with the river flowing under it in full view, and Sora jumped.

 

The feeling of being in the air always made his stomach squirm, but not uncomfortably. Sora knew it was only his body realising that the gravity was doing its best to pull him down, not because he was afraid of falling. He had never, ever, fallen.

 

Sora reached his legs as the water was again covered by stone, and he landed on to the other side of the gap, in front of very surprised looking construction workers.

 

He had to use the surprise to his advantage when he still had the chance.

 

“Sorry, gotta run!” Sora flashed them a wide grin as he pushed past the workers.

“I’ll use the other bridge when I come back!”

 

By the time anyone had recovered enough to do anything, Sora was already running down from the bridge to the sidewalk. He had drawn little bit of a crowd. Eastern side residents, judging dressed and suits that were clearly not meant for any kind of work. And also judging from the fact that none of them seemed to be in any kind of hurry to anywhere, despite the city that was waking up to another day in full speed around them.

 

“Users”, Sora heard someone scoff.

“Think they can do anything.”

 

Sora bit down to keep his mouth shut. He didn’t have time to stop and let out any snarky comments to people with much more money than he had right now.

 

He could see the flash of a reddish-brown roof peeking from in between other roofs and garden trees, and Sora turned from the corner to the right street.

 

Mrs. Humphries’ house was tall, bright yellow one with large windows and a massive garden in the backyard. It was way bigger than the backyards of Sora’s neighbourhoods combined, and Mrs. Humphries didn’t even live far from the river, meaning that her garden was nowhere as large as the gardens further away from the riverfront.

 

It was always a little intimidating, no matter how many times Sora came over. He didn’t even really dare to go to the areas ahead of Mrs. Humphries’ house. He would most likely only have the neighbourhood police sent after him for looking suspicious, which, in common language, meant too poor-looking to live in the area.

 

Mrs. Humphries’ neighbours all thankfully already knew him, so no one had called the police on him for being in the property of an old rich lady.

Sora stopped in front of the dark hardwood door, trying his best to catch his breath and simultaneously comb his hair with his fingers. Not that it helped anything this time, either.

 

Sora patted down the front of his shirt to remove the excess wrinkles the running had caused, and rang the doorbell.

 

It always took Mrs. Humphries a moment to get to the door. Sora could see her cat, Sadie, coming to sit on the windowsill, staring at him with the big, round black eyes.

 

Then the door opened, revealing Mrs. Humphries standing on the other side of the threshold, already dressed up in her long forenoon dress, jewelry and all and her hair pulled back neatly.

 

“Good morning, Mrs. Humphries”, Sora greeted her, his posture as straight as it could possibly be.

 

Mrs. Humphries looked at him, from head to toe, and Sora knew she could see very well in how much hurry Sora had just been.

Then she stepped a little away from the door.

 

“Good morning, Sora”, she greeted him back.

“Right on time.”

 

Just as she said it, Sora heard the grandfather clock starting to stroke seven in the living room.

 

Sora let his posture slump in relief when Mrs. Humphries turned her back to him, and told him to close the door. Sadie was still sitting on the windowsill, eyes unceasingly on Sora, like the cat was openly judging him on behalf of her owner.

 

“What?” Sora mouthed to the cat. Sadie only blinked once at him, slowly, before hopping down and following Mrs. Humphries to the hallway, leaving Sora to trail behind them.

Great. If a cat was going to start to judge him, this would be the last time Sora would promise to be anywhere before ten o’clock.

 

His stomach let out a faint growl. Sora sighed.

 

“This is going to be a long morning…” he muttered to himself, as he followed both Mrs. Humphries and Sadie through to house to the house.

 

                                                                                                          ~

 

Usually, Sora came by once a week to do more heavy garden work Mrs. Humphries was not able to do by herself anymore. She was not the most talkative person, but she was polite and despite her strictness, she seemed to like him, so Sora knew that she enjoyed spending time in her garden, tending to the flowerbeds and cleaning out the leaves. Some days, when her knees and finger ached too much, Sora did those as well, but the only thing Mrs. Humphries never asked him to help her with was the greenhouse.

 

So Sora was a little excited and mostly curious, as they walked through the garden towards the greenhouse. He had tried to peek inside the windows a few times, but the glass was covered in thick greenness, preventing him from seeing much.

 

The greenhouse itself stood in the back of the garden, where the trees did not grow as densely, letting the sun shine down to the ground without anything blocking it. Or, so much as the sun did shine in Vertness. It had taken a while for Sora to get used to in the weather, which was much more colder, windier and rainier than it had been back at home.  At least now the greenhouse seemed to be getting some light, as the morning sun had risen higher up on the still clear sky.

 

“When I moved in to this house”, Mrs. Humphries said suddenly, her fingers coming to open the door. Sora quickly moved his attention back to her from the sun.

“I took every plant I could from my house with me, in one form or another. Everything I could not take was burned with the rest of it.”

 

She stepped in first, and Sora followed, looking around in the greenhouse as he followed Mrs. Humphries up to the narrow hallway.

 

The greenness he had seen from the outside did not paint even a fraction of the picture he saw now. Almost every inch of the walls were covered in flowers, in so many different of them that Sora did not know where he should be even looking. There were small white ones right next to him on the right, a vine that climbed all the way to the ceiling with blue and purple flowers on it, and huge, red ones on the other end of the hallway, which honestly looked like the petals were bigger than Sora’s palms. He had never seen any of them before in real life, not on the islands nor anywhere else in Vertness, but he still did recognise some of them, even if very vaguely.

 

They were the same flowers Kairi had used to draw as a child.

 

Of course Sora knew Mrs. Humphries was from Radiant Garden. She had mentioned it before, although she never said much about it. Sora didn’t really blame her for it.

Destiny Isles had been too far away from Radiant Garden to be affected by the war in directly. Sora only remembered the news of it from the radio or from the pictures of smoking ruins that had been shown in the small television his parents had had in the corner of their living room.

 

And of course, Kairi had arrived too.

 

No one really knew how she had ended up on the ship to the islands, but there she had been, little girl with fiery red hair and wide and startled eyes, only the clothes she had been wearing with her. All alone, not knowing how she had ended up there either.

 

Mrs. Humphries was silent for a moment, very carefully brushing the leaves with her fingers, her mouth going to a tight line for a second.

 

“They don’t really like the local weather”, she said then.

“It’s too cloudy. Too cold most time around the year. Too little sunlight. I’ve done my best with trying to make them feel like home. I even had those installed.” She pointed at the buzzing yellow lights on the ceiling and the copper wires hanging around them,

“But they didn’t do much. I feel like the only thing they really need is more of natural light.”

 

She lifted her eyes to Sora, looking more earnest than he had even seen her before.

 

“Could you help me?” she asked.

“Ms. Gainsborough told me you might be able to do it.”

 

Sora didn’t even think.

 

“Of course”, he said, smiling at her brightly.

“I just need something to light up. Do you have any stones around here that I could use?”

 

 

After twenty minutes of running around in the garden, picking up stones large enough and stuffing his pockets full of them, Sora returned to the greenhouse.

 

“I think this should be enough”, he said to Mrs. Humphries, as he set stones down on to the floor.

“I can always do more of them, if needed.”

 

“It’s kind enough of you to help like this at all”, Mrs. Humphries said. She seemed way more relaxed, and Sora wondered if she had been worried about her flowers for a while now.

 

“Oh, this is nothing”, Sora assured her, standing up.

 

It was a lot easier now than it had been the first time he’d done this. He didn’t even need to hold the stones anymore, as he had already touched them while putting them down to their new places.

Sora closed his eyes, and he breathed in, breathed out, and he could feel the tingling warmness on his fingertips. He opened his eyes just as the stones changed colour, from grey to glowing with golden light. Sora could feel the warmth radiating now not only from under his skin, but on top of it too, making him feel like he was standing in a summer afternoon instead of in a early morning in the beginning of September.

 

The whole greenhouse had changed colours, all of it basking in gold, the leaves and petals having a new, almost shimmering surface. Sora nodded to himself, pleased.

 

“They should last for a good while”, he said, turning back to Mrs. Humphries.

“But if they start fading for some reason, just tell me and I’ll fix it.”

 

Mrs. Humphries did not answer him right away. She just looked around in the greenhouse, and Sora could see the way her eyes shone in what he very well recognized as happiness.

 

Finally her eyes landed on Sora, and she smiled.

 

“Thank you”, she said.

“It’s lovely.”

 

Sora smiled back.

 

“You’re welcome”, he said.

“I’m happy to help.”

 

 

                                                                                                                           ~

 

Mrs. Humphries was in a really good mood that morning. She broke her usual habits and came with him to the garden, and she tended the flowerbed next to him and told stories of her youth. Little bits and pieces from here and there, about how she had played in the city gardens with her brothers and how one of them had fallen into a fountain, and about how her family had gotten their first television when they had been sold for the very first time, and how exciting such a little thing had been back then.

 

Kairi hadn’t really told them anything about Radiant Garden. At first it had been impossible to ask her anything about her home without her either getting quiet and distant, or her starting to cry, and as time went on and she had healed, her memories had already started to fade. So Sora had only heard about the flowers and about the city walls and cobblestone streets. Destiny Isles had not really had any of those, with sandy roads and ocean surrounding them from all fronts. And that had really made even all the little things sound so much more exciting.

 

Even more than to Sora, they had sounded exciting to Riku.

 

“My friend is from Radiant Garden”, Sora told Mrs. Humphries after she finished her latest story.

“The only thing she really remembers from there is the flowers. I think she and her grandmother used to have a garden of their own.”

 

“Many of us did”, Mrs. Humphries said.

“It was really a good place for everything to grow, with so much light and it’s Users around.”

 

“Yeah, I know”, Sora smiled to himself.

“Kairi is a User. A very powerful one, too.”

 

“Oh”, Mrs. Humphries lifted her gaze from the flowerbed.

“Does she live in here, too? Or in your islands?”

 

“No, no”, Sora shook his head.

“She is in the Academy, with our other friend.”

 

“It’s a long way from here to the Academy”, Mrs. Humphries said, giving Sora a somewhat studying look.

 

Sora tried to ignore it.

 

“Yeah, but it’s even more far away from the islands”, he shrugged.

“So this is better than that.”

 

“Of course”, Mrs. Humphries said.

“But, you know, it would be nice if your friends could visit sometime. Do you think she would like to see the flowers again?”

 

Sora could already see the smile that would bloom to Kairi’s face from the mere suggestion, and he couldn’t help again but to smile to himself.

 

“She would love it.”

 

                                                                                                                      ~

 

Sora was used to in being late. Like said, he wasn’t the best in waking up in the mornings, and he admitted that he had a habit of sometimes extending his naps a little bit too much.

 

But Mrs. Humphries had almost made him leave earlier than usual, giving him few extra bills that Sora had had no time to refuse from before she had closed the door on him. Sora could’ve sworn she did it on purpose.

 

So now, he was not late to anywhere. Not even in a hurry. It would even still be a while before Zack would have his lunch break and Sora would have to be there to bring it to him. It was weird. Not bad, but weird.

 

He did use the Southern bridge this time, as he dragged slowly towards the Western side of the city. He even took a moment to stop and lean on the stone railing, and watch as the streams of people moved alongside of the river and the sun reflected from the flowing surface. By now, the city had woken up properly, which was clear not only from the masses that were now covering the sidewalks, but also from the cars rattling loudly right behind him, as they drove across the bridge.

 

Sora had once complained about the noise to Riku (because it was so _loud_ that he could barely hear _anything_ though it and the islands hadn’t had a _single_ car on them), and Riku had laughed at him, his voice sounding even lower than it really was over the phoneline.

 

“Oh, you think Vertness is noisy?” Riku had asked him.

“You wouldn’t able to live in Citadel even for a whole day.”

 

“Hey, I could get used to it!” Sora had huffed, leaning on the countertop as he spoke.

“I haven’t lived in a big city for years now, unlike others!”

 

“Yeah, yeah”, Riku had hummed, now less amused. Then he had went quiet for a few seconds.

“…I can ask if I can get a place from somewhere else when I finish the Academy, you know?”

 

Riku had done his best to hide the reluctance from his voice, but Sora knew him way too well.

 

“I just said that I could get used to it”, Sora had reminded him.

“I’m sure I’ll be fine. You know how good I was sleeping over the storms back at home, it can’t be worse than that.”

 

Riku had laughed at that again, shortly and almost relieved.

 

“You’re right”, he had said, softer now.

“I miss you.”

 

“I miss you too”, Sora had whined, and had immediately felt bad, as he had been able to outright hear over the phone how Riku had tensed up.

 

“I’m sorry”, Riku had sighed, quiet, sad, and Sora had wanted nothing more than to be able to actually see him and touch him.

 

“It’s okay”, Sora had hurried to say.

“It’s not your fault. And hey, remember, it’s this or living on the islands, right?”

 

“…right. I- what?” Riku had turned away from the phone to talk to someone else.

“Sora, I’m sorry, but I have to go. I’ll call you again soon, okay?”

 

“Okay”, Sora had somehow kept the disappointment out of his voice.

“I love you.”

 

“I love you, too”, Riku had said, softly but clearly in hurry.

And then he had ended the call.

 

Sora sighed, deeply, and leaned his head over the railing. He couldn’t mope like that. It was not fair to Riku, who had so, so much better in Academy than he would ever had it in the islands. And all Sora ever wanted was to Riku to be happy.

And it wasn’t like it was going to be like this forever. Riku was already almost at the end of his time in the Academy, so Sora would very soon be able to stop missing him. They had survived this long, so there was really nothing to complain about.

 

Besides, it was not too bad, not too bad at all. Sora liked Vertness, he liked the people and he liked his job, even if it was only doing whatever he was needed to do, since Sora liked doing different things every day and he was good with his hands.

And he liked Aerith and Zack and their little bakery, where they let him live for way too cheaper than the room was actually worth.

 

It was a good life, one Sora liked.

 

He just wished Riku and Kairi were there, too. That was all.

 

Eventually he made his way back to the plaza. It was nearing lunchtime for most of the workers, and the shops around the plaza were mostly restaurants and cafés, so the place was pretty crowded. It all worked like a clockwork. First it was breakfast for workers and then lunch, and then the evening arrived, and the restaurants would switch their table cloths and silverware and serve dinner for the rest of the night.

 

Since he was early, he had time for his own lunch before Zack’s. Sora knew he was more than lucky to have a table for himself at Gwinn’s. It was one of the bigger and finer places, so it did draw people from the Eastern side as well. Sora guessed it was because the prizes were still a lot lower compared to the Eastern side restaurants, despite being higher than what others normally charged on the Western side. And Mr. Gwinn had really, really good food.

 

Sora’s stomach gave a loud, demanding crumble. Oh, right. He had barely eaten breakfast before storming off to Mrs. Humphries’, and he had completely forgot about it because of his good mood.

 

Hopefully whatever job Mr. Gwinn had waiting for him wouldn’t take too long. Not that Sora was complaining too much, since the whatever it was meant food for him.

 

Gwinn’s was usually a busy place in the first place, but today seemed to be an extra-busy one. Sora thanked his lean frame as he pushed past the tables and extra chairs that were pulled up both in front of the restaurant and inside the dining hall, since he could fit in through pretty narrow places and avoid bumping into them.

 

Even though there were a lot of taller people than him around him, Mr. Gwinn managed to spot him from the crowd right away.

 

“Sora!” he waved his hand from the other side of the hall, and Sora started to make his way to him.

 

“You’re early”, Mr. Gwinn pointed out as Sora stopped by the table he was cleaning.

“Where were you off to this morning?”

 

“To Mrs. Humphries”, Sora answered, leaning a bit closer to Mr. Gwinn to talk over the noise of the restaurant.

“She needed help with her greenhouse. The flowers needed more light.”

 

“Well, good for her that she had you to help her”, Mr. Gwinn smiled widely.

 

“I guess so”, Sora rubbed the back of his neck.

“It was just a little trick. She seemed really happy, though.”

 

“No doubt of that”, Mr. Gwinn patted Sora on the shoulder.

“You tend to have that sort of effect on people.”

 

“Well, if people are happy with me, that’s just good, right?” Sora laughed sheepishly.

“But you said you had a job for me?”

 

“Oh, yes!” Mr. Gwinn snapped his fingers like he had forgotten the whole thing.

“Do you want to have lunch first or are you feeling up to it right now?”

 

“Better if I do it now, you have enough work with paying customers”, Sora answered, mentally ordering his stomach to not to growl again.

“So, what is it?”

 

“You see, I’ve had a little bit problems with- “Mr. Gwinn started, but the was interrupted as one of the waiters suddenly stopped next to them.

 

“Sir, excuse me- oh, hello, Sora”, the waiter nodded at Sora quickly.

“There’s a little…uh, a problem with a customer.”

 

The waiter looked so uneasy and a tad bit pale, that Mr. Gwinn didn’t even bother to ask any questions about the problem from them.

 

“Where?” was the only thing he asked, to which the waiter pointed towards the tabled set outside in the plaza.

 

Mr. Gwinn started making his way to the door, and after a few seconds of hesitation, Sora followed him.

 

He just…had a weird feeling about this. Clearly it wasn’t any regular kind of a problem, since the waiter had seemed so bothered by it.

Sora reached Mr. Gwinn just as they stepped out of the door, and then the problem was right there in front of them.

 

Sora first noticed the man, standing up with his arms crossed and chin lifted, looking irritated and impatient. It took another second to notice the other man on the next table. He was hunched over his plate, keeping his head down. Sora could see the other diners staring at him, some more directly than others, and some trying to look like they were certainly not staring from behind their arms and newspapers.

 

This was not just the regular ‘something’s wrong with my food’-situation, Sora could tell.

 

The man in the suit noticed Mr. Gwinn, and almost in violent manner waved him over.

 

Mr. Gwinn visibly braced himself, straightening his back and rounding up his shoulders, like he could see as well that this was something else.

 

“Is there a problem, sir?” Mr. Gwinn asked the man, and Sora could hear that he was putting up the most polite voice he could possibly manage.

 

“Yes”, the man huffed, his whole body moving as he did so.

“I want him removed immediately.”

 

He pointed at the other man, who had went completely unmoving and rigid on his chair. Sora took a second, longer look at him.

 

There were so many people around that it was quite hard to feel, but when Sora concentrated enough, the sensation came. It was like something was brushing his skin and leaving it burning and chilly at the same time.

It was a familiar feeling, one Sora had known since his childhood.

The man sitting unmoving was a User. Just as the man pointing at him was, but he felt different.

 

Oh. Sora understood suddenly what was going on.

 

Immediately, no matter how hard he tried to suppress it, his insides started boiling.

 

Mr. Gwinn took a deep breath.

 

“Has he harassed you in some way?” he asked the man, still admirably calm in a way Sora certainly wasn’t anymore.

 

“I don’t feel comfortable with him being here”, the man answered. Sora pressed his nails to his palms.

“I want him removed immediately.”

 

There was a crowd gathering in front of the restaurant. People were staring and whispering to each other, any other noises dulling down around them as they waited to see where the situation would go.

It was all too familiar. Way too familiar. Sora pressed his hands in to fists tighter.

 

Mr. Gwinn cleared his throat, starting to look a little embarrassed himself from the attention.

 

“You see, Sir, we aren’t going to remove customers if they’re not harassing others”, he said.

 

The man in the suit was starting to turn red by his face.

 

“If he’s not removed, I am not going to pay for this”, he said, nearly hissing, pointing down at his own plate.

“And I am sure that many of your better customers will not come back with their money, either.”

 

Mr. Gwinn was looking really embarrassed now, his eyes going back and forth between two men and the still gathering crowd. The other man had bowed his head so down that his face could not be seen anymore, but Sora could see his body shaking.

 

Riku had always done the same when they were younger. Kept his face straight so no one could see how much he hurt, but the slight trembling that took hold of the rest of his body had always given away his feelings to Sora.

 

Sora raised his chin and stepped forward.

 

“Then leave”, he said, staring the man in the suit straight in the eyes.

 

The crowd went silent.

 

The man in the suit turned to look at Sora, confusion written all over his face.

 

“What?” he asked, his face really turning red now.

“What did you say?”

 

“I said then leave”, Sora said, louder this time.

“He hasn’t done anything to you, so if you have a problem, then leave.”

 

All the eyes were on him now. The whispers started again. Sora fought the desire to see what the people around him were doing, keeping his eyes on the man in front of him instead.

 

The man had gone completely deep red now, his cheeks having formed darker patches on them.

 

“You-“ he started snarling, when someone spoke up from the crowd.

 

“You heard what he said!”

 

Sora broke the eye contact with the man to see the source of the voice. It had sounded like a young woman, but right from where he stood, he couldn’t see anyone who looked like they had just yelled, as only thing he saw were bunch of confused faces and eyes searching for the voice as well.

 

But the yell had broken the tension. People started talking, louder this time, and Sora couldn’t help but to fell childish joy because of the looks the crowd was now giving the man in front of him.

 

A woman from the table next to the other man leaned towards him.

 

“Are you alright?” Sora heard her ask him.

 

It was also the point where Mr. Gwinn got his bearings back.

 

“I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave”, he said to the man in the suit.

“You’re disturbing other customers.”

 

The man in the suit made a weird noise, like he was choking on something. He opened his mouth as if he was going to speak, but he then closed it again. Then he turned around and furiously pushed past the people gathered around them.

 

Sora let the tension melt away from his body, as the man disappeared from his sight.

 

So did Mr. Gwinn, who’s posture outright sagged.

 

“I’m so sorry about that”, he sighed, glancing at Sora apoplectically.

 

“It’s alright”, Sora tried to smile at him, despite his blood still feeling little too hot for his veins.

“I’m used to deal with this kind of stuff.”

 

Mr. Gwinn sighed again.

 

“Well”, he hesitated with his words, “It’s a…good thing now that you have.” He placed his hands on Sora’s shoulders and turned him around towards the restaurant again.

“What do you want for lunch?”

 

“Oh? Um”, Sora stuttered.

“Didn’t you have a problem with something?”

 

“You’ve done enough for today”, Mr. Gwinn said, pushing him inside.

“We have that chocolate cake for today’s dessert, you have time for it?”

 

“Yeah? I guess”, Sora answered.

“I promised to bring Zack his lunch, but…”

 

“The guards are not having their break in another while, right?” Mr. Gwinn asked.

 

“Right”, Sora nodded. Mr. Gwinn smiled at him warmly.

 

“There you go, you definitely have time for dessert”, he said, waving one of the waiters over.

“I’m going to set a table for Sora. There’s a man in table eighteen. Bring him some cake, too. His meal is on the house.”

 

The waiter disappeared quickly into the kitchen, as Mr. Gwinn continued to lead Sora further inside to find a free table. The crowd outside had started to disperse, the voices of people talking returning to normal as footsteps filled the plaza again.

They were halfway through the dining hall when Sora felt someone staring at him. He turned his head around.

 

Sora almost didn’t see her. She was standing outside, looking through the window, blue eyes following him intensely, almost burning.

The eyes were pretty much all that Sora could see of her. She had put the hood of her jacket over her head, and tucked the collar so high that it covered the lower part of her face. Still, when she saw Sora looking back, she jumped slightly, and started quickly walking amongst the bypassers.

 

Sora tried to follow her with his eyes, but Mr. Gwinn had found an empty table and he sat Sora down, giving him the menu and an order to order whatever he wanted, blocking the view to the window from Sora. And when Mr. Gwinn moved away from the table, the girl was definitely gone.

 

Sora tried to concentrate in deciding his meal, instead to the weird, clutching feeling that had settled down to his stomach.

 

                                                                                                                   ~

 

When Sora came back to the Gainsborough’s bakery hour and a half later, Aerith was busy in taking orders, so Sora just grabbed Zacks lunch from behind the counter and continued his way towards the Western outpost of the city walls.

The entrance to Western outpost was well away from the wall, the white stone looming in the background, behind a metal fence.

 

The guard at the entrance raised his eyebrows when he saw Sora approaching.

 

“Halt”, he said, raising his hand to motion Sora to stop.

“State your business.”

 

“Just bringing lunch”, Sora lifted the bag for the guard to see.

“For Zack Fair.”

 

The guard went back inside his little booth, and he spoke something to the phone in there. Sora could not hear what he said, but the call was thankfully short, and the guard strode back after an only a half a minute.

 

“Wait there”, he said, and then fell silent, leaving Sora to play with the straps of the bag and rock back and forth on his feet, while keeping an watchful eye on him.

 

It only took few minutes, until Sora saw someone running towards them on the other side of the fence.

 

“Sora!” Zack grinned widely as he came closer. The guard opened the entrance for him, and Zack took no time in wrapping his arm around Sora’s shoulders.

“I got a call that you’re asking for me. Everything all right?”

 

“Yeah, yeah”, Sora grinned back.

“You forgot your lunch.”

 

He showed the bag to Zack, whose eyes widened almost hilariously.

 

“Oh, shoot”, he said and laughed loudly, squeezing Sora a little harder.

“You’re the best and an actual angel and I love you.”

 

“Glad to be a help”, Sora laughed too.

“What will you do when I’m not here?”

 

“Maybe I’ll train Goofy to bring my food for me”, Zack shrugged, taking the bag from Sora.

“What have you been up to today?”

 

“Not much”, Sora said.

“I was at Mrs. Humphries’ in the morning and then I had lunch at Mr. Gwinn’s and that’s pretty much it.”

 

“Did Gwinn have a job for you or what?” Zack asked. The other guard behind them checked his watch and rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything.

 

“He did”, Sora nodded.

“I ended up getting the meal for free, though.”

 

“What? Did something happen?” Zack asked, making Sora to tilt his head at him, questioning.

“You just suddenly went very serious-looking, that’s why.”

 

“Oh”, Sora said, pursing his lips a bit.

“Yeah, kinda. There were a couple of Users there and one of them started a scene.”

 

“Was it about Arts again?” Zack asked, understanding, and Sora nodded again.

“Was it bad?”

 

“Not as bad as it could’ve been”, Sora answered.

“The other User gave up pretty quickly when I told him to leave.”

 

It had still been bad for the other User, sitting hunched and still as people only stared and made no move to help. Sora knew that it was only a small comfort to him that the situation had been over that fast.

 

Zack looked at him for a while, like he was thinking what to say.

 

“I’d like if you didn’t put yourself in the line of fire every time”, he said then.

“But I guess my words are not going to change anything.”

 

“No, they’re not”, Sora said.

“Nothing will.”

 

“Figured out much”, Zack hummed. He leaned a little closer before he spoke again, lower this time.

“Just be careful, alright? Not everyone is nice.”

 

“I know that”, Sora frowned.

“You don’t have to tell me.”

 

“Of course”, Zack said, a bit too lightly to sound completely honest.

“But look, there has been some things going on with-“

 

The other guard cleared his throat loudly at that point. Zack glanced at him over his shoulder, and seemed to hesitate.

 

“…I’ll talk with you about this once I get home, okay?” he almost whispered. He let go of Sora, and flashed him another wide grin.

“Thanks for the food! I’ll see you later!”

 

He ruffled Sora’s hair and hurried back inside. The other guard locked the entrance, and then shot Sora a look that clearly told him it was time for him to leave.

 

 

He didn’t have a lot of work left for that day. He helped with Ms. Sato with cleaning up her old sheds she had in the backyard of her recently bought house (Sora had never seen so much dust in one place before), and then he repaired the fence of Aerith’s neighbours, who had a small general store on the other side of the road.

Then it was free time for him, but there was a weird restlessness that made it difficult to relax, so Sora opted in cleaning the tables and doing the dishes for Aerith. Keeping his hands busy seemed to help with the feeling at least somewhat. Maybe it was from the confrontation at Gwinn’s, or from Zack being such a cryptid.

Yeah, that sounded logical enough.

 

Keeping his hand busy did not keep his mind off of everything, though.

 

“Hey, Aerith?” Sora asked, as she appeared in to the kitchen to check the oven.

“Has anyone called today?”

 

“If you mean Riku or Kairi”, Aerith said, opening the oven door,

“I’m afraid not. Were they supposed to call?”

 

“Riku said he would try to call today or tomorrow”, Sora answered. There was jam stuck on the side of a plate, and he put extra effort to get it off.

“Or yesterday. But he didn’t, so…”

 

“I’m sorry”, Aerith said empathetically.

“I’m sure he’ll call you when he can.”

 

“Yeah”, Sora said, trying to concentrate on the coffee stains inside of one cup.

“He’s busy, that’s all. He’ll call when he has time.”

 

It felt unfair to Riku to mope about it, even if Riku was not there to see or hear. Sora knew it was just as hard for him as it was for Sora.

It was just…hard. Sora swallowed to get the heavy feeling down from his throat.

 

He was happy. Really.

 

                                                                                                                  ~

 

When Sora came back from the evening walk with Goofy, Aerith was on the phone.

 

“How late will you be?” Aerith asked, and Sora knew she was talking with Zack. He tried to push down the disappointment.

“Alright, we’ll see tomorrow. Yes, I’ll tell him. Goodnight.”

 

“Is Zack going to be at work overnight?” Sora asked, as Aerith put down the receiver.

 

“Yes”, Aerith said, pursing her lips ever so slightly.

“There’s been some problems they’ll have to take care of, but he said he’d be back by morning.”

 

She checked the clock on the wall.

 

“I’ll be going now”, she said, grabbing her jacket from the back of one chair.

“I promised Mrs. Hale that I would be there by nine to watch the children. It looks like you and Goofy are going to spend the night by yourselves.”

 

“We’ll manage”, Sora smiled slightly.

“Goofy will wake me up if anything happens.”

 

“Of course”, Aerith laughed, scratching Goofy’s head.

“Take care of Sora, will you?”

 

Goofy wacked his tail and nuzzled Aeriths hand, and returned to sit by Sora’s feet as Aerith gathered the rest of her things.

 

“I’ll see you at morning”, she said, hand coming down on the handle.

“Goodnight Sora. Remember to lock the doors before you go to sleep.”

 

“Of course”, Sora answered.

“Goodnight. Oh, Aerith?”

 

Aerith had already opened the door, but she stopped to look at him.

 

“Did Zack tell you what kind of problems they were having?” Sora asked.

 

Aerith shook her head.

 

“He didn’t say anything”, she said, and then after a one more goodnight, she was out, and silence fell in to the bakery.

 

Sora stood there beside the counter for few minutes, listening to the ticking of the clock and Goofy’s heavy breathing.

 

“Well”, he said then, causing Goofy to look up at him.

“Seems like I’m not going to hear what Zack had to say today.”

 

Another silence fell to the room. Sora glanced at the phone.

 

He shouldn’t give up just yet. It wouldn’t be the first time Riku had called late (Zack had joked about getting another phone for Sora, so he could talk to Riku in peace, but mostly so he and Aerith wouldn’t have to listen to them), since the days at the Academy were long and tedious. Kairi had once told him that Riku had fallen asleep on the hallway while waiting for his turn to make a call.

 

Sora smiled to himself, even though his throat felt heavy again.

 

He got up and made himself some sandwiches and tea. Riku didn’t call. He did the dishes and fed Goofy. Riku didn’t call. Sora locked the doors and got himself a blanket from upstairs, wrapping it around himself on the small couch they had in the backroom next to the kitchen.

 

Riku didn’t call.

 

Goofy had already fallen asleep on to the floor next to the couch. Sora stroke the fur on Goofy’s head absentmindedly. It was not yet too late for Riku to call. Sora knew the Academy closed at eleven, and it was only few minutes over ten.

 

And if Riku wouldn’t call tonight, he would call tomorrow, Sora reminded himself. He had promised.

 

Sora yawned, rubbing his eyes and wrapping the blanket tighter around himself. His lids were starting to feel heavy and his eyes were getting itchy, but he could manage for another hour, until he was sure that Riku would not call.

Fifteen minutes went by, and it was getting difficult to keep his eyes open. The backroom was comfortably warm, thanks to the ovens heating the walls for the whole day, which didn’t help in keeping the drowsiness at bay.

 

Goofy had started to snore gently, and as another fifteen minutes passed and Riku had still not called, Sora gave up.

 

He would move upstairs later if he felt like it. His limbs had gotten way too heavy to get up now and climb the stairs, so Sora leaned his head on his arms and closed his eyes.

 

                                                                                                                   ~

 

He had been twelve and Riku had been thirteen, which was the age where they stopped being little kids and started to understand things better.

 

For someone else, it might’ve been a good thing, but for Sora and Riku, it only meant that they now understood truly how unfair the world could be.

 

It had been the first time in years Sora had seen Riku cry.

 

Riku had hid in the secret place, away from the eyes of the others, and Sora had heard suppressed sobs as he had stepped inside the bare cave.

 

Riku had sat on the other end of the cave, knees drawn close to his body and arms wrapped around his legs, his face pressed down. He had looked way too small and so, so vulnerable in that position, that Sora had felt like something had been pressing tightly around his neck.

 

He had made his way to Riku, with small, careful steps.

 

“Riku?” Sora had called, quietly not to startle him.

“Riku, it’s me.”

 

Riku had went completely still and silent, the sobs stopping instantly when he had realised that he wasn’t alone.

 

“Riku?” Sora had called, again.

 

“Go away”, Riku had said behind his arms.

 

Sora had stopped, but only for couple of seconds.

 

“No”, he had said.

 

“Go away”, Riku had repeated, but there had been no bite in his words.

“Please.”

 

“…do you really want me to?” Sora had asked.

 

Riku had not answered anything, and Sora had known it meant that Riku didn’t really want him to go away. So Sora had knelt in front of him, gently placing his hands on Riku’s.

 

And then Riku had broken up again.

 

“I’m sorry”, he had sobbed, pressing his face harder against his knees.

“I’m sorry, I’m sor- “

 

“Stop”, Sora had said, gripping Riku’s hands tighter.

“You have nothing to be sorry for.”

 

“But I – “Riku choked to his own words.

“I’m wrong. I wasn’t supposed to be like this. They said- “

 

“They’re wrong”, Sora had said, and for the first time ever in his life, he had been truly angry.

“You’re not wrong, they are.”

 

Riku had finally lifted his head, and Sora had seen his reddened eyes and tear-streaked skin, and before Riku had managed to say anything else, Sora had wrapped his arms around him and drawn him close, hugging him tight against him.

 

“They’re all wrong”, he had said firmly to Riku’s ear.

“You’re the best friend I’ve ever had, you can’t be wrong.”

 

Riku had sniffed and turned to look at Sora, tears still threatening to fall from his eyes.

 

“They said I shouldn’t be near Kairi”, he had whispered hoarsely.

“They said that I shouldn’t be with you.”

 

“Listen to me”, Sora had pulled himself to an arm’s length, so he could look Riku directly to his eyes.

“You’re my best friend and I know you would never hurt anybody and last me or Kairi. You’re going to go to the Academy and become the best Arts Master there will ever be, and if someone doesn’t like that then…then they can go to hell for all I care!”

 

Riku had stared at him, eyes wide with surprise. Then his face had crunched up and for a second Sora had feared that he was going to cry again, but instead Riku had laughed, a loud laugh that had shaken his entire body.

 

“I can’t believe you just sweared”, he had snorted, rubbing his face.

“And told people to go to hell.”

 

“They made you cry”, Sora had huffed.

“I’m going to protect you from anyone who makes you cry.”

 

Riku had gone still again, but only for a second.

 

“Silly”, he had said, smiling faintly.

“It’s my job to protect you.”

 

                                                                                                                      ~

 

Sora had always been a heavy sleeper. If it was difficult to get him up in the mornings, it was outright impossible to get him awake in the middle of the night.

 

He must’ve not been sleeping well, since he woke up to a sound of something crashing.

 

Sora shot up, trying to get his bearings in the dark room. The space next to the couch was empty, and Sora could faintly see Goofy standing up in the kitchen, towards the sales area of the bakery.

 

“Goofy…?” Sora blinked blearily.

“What’s wrong…?”

 

Then he heard a loud thud and a noise that sounded like someone was moaning, and Goofy barked.

 

Sora was completely awake in a second. He jumped up from the couch, dragging the blanket to the floor, and scrambled to put on the lights.

 

The kitchen light flickered on, and there was another noise. Goofy barked again, and now with the lights, Sora could see him standing with his head low, fur ruffled up.

 

Sora turned his eyes from Goofy to the sales area.

 

In the light coming from the kitchen, Sora saw the figure standing near the counter. He was taller than Sora, but that was pretty much everything he could see, as the figure blended in the dark almost completely. Sora could hear the figure breathing, ragged and loud. It sounded painful.

 

Sora’s skin suddenly felt cold.

 

“…who’s there?” he called carefully.

 

The back door was on the other side of the first floor. He’d need to get out from the kitchen to reach it, in case of the figure was a burglar or something like that, and possibly armed. Sora knew how to fight, but the bakery didn’t really have anything for him to defend himself with.

 

The breathing hitched.

 

“Help…” the figure moaned, long and quivering, and it stumbled forward.

 

Goofy started growling.

 

It was pretty jarring. Sora had never heard Goofy to growl at anything, and the coldness seeped from his skin to his stomach.

 

But…if he’d heard right…

 

The figure had stopped, and only seemed to slightly sway in place.

 

“Help…” it moaned again. It’s breathing became a bunch of choking noises, and Sora pushed down the cold feeling and Goofy's growling.

 

“What’s wrong?” he asked, stepping out of the kitchen to put on the lights in the sales area, too. The figure didn’t answer, only coughed up raggedly.

 

Sora would take a look. He didn’t know how someone had gotten inside, but the person sounded like they were in pain, and Sora couldn’t just leave them be. He would do what he could, and then call a hospital or something.

 

Where was the switch…Sora’s fingers fumbled at the wall, trying to feel his way. Goofy followed him, growling even louder at the figure.

 

There! Sora flicked the switch, lighting up the counter and the small table area.

 

His whole body turned cold when he saw the figure in light.

 

It looked like a human, with tall torso and long arms and legs, but its skin was completely black, besides for small patches that looked swollen and sick. And it had claws. Long, sharp claws in place of fingers, twitching rapidly.

 

It was not a human. _It was not a human._

 

Then it turned its head towards Sora, and opened its eyes. Yellow, hollow eyes.

 

“Help…” it moaned again, but Sora didn’t see a mouth on its face.

“ _Help_ …”

 

Sora broke up from his frozen state in the same exact second the creature lunged forward. Sora threw himself out of the way just as it swung down its hand, and the nails bore down in to the table behind him, leaving huge dents on the surface.

 

Goofy barked and jumped at the creature as it stopped to see where Sora had went, and tried to bit its arm. But the creature was faster, and it swung its arm again, sending Goofy flying through the room. The dog hit the wall hard, and then stayed on the floor, whining.

 

“Goofy!” Sora yelled, which was a bad idea, since the creature snapped its head towards him again, and Sora had to move fast to get away from the hit just in time as the nails dug deep in to the floorboards.

 

Sora jumped over the counter, making the creature collide on to it, giving him few extra seconds to get some distance in between them.

 

Sora bit his teeth together hard, scrambling towards the other end of the counter. _What was that thing?_

 

He didn’t get time to wonder, however, because the creature recovered quickly and it jumped over the counter, the long body hitting the cabinets and shattering the glass doors and sending everything down from the countertops as it wailed its limbs in the narrow area, crawling after Sora with the claws leaving deep marks on the floor. Sora could feel the tips of the claws almost grazing his neck as he dropped down and fumbled to other direction, the creature hitting the wall instead of him.

 

Whatever it was, it was much, much faster than him and would eventually catch him if he didn’t do something right now. Sora gritted his teeth together, and grabbed the next thing his hand touched. A candlestick, that had fallen from the counter.

 

The creature bounced from the wall, coming straight at him, and Sora turned around, holding his hand forward.

 

He put all of his concentration and panic mixed energy in it. The candlestick flared up in bright, blinding glow right on the creatures’ face, and it let out a loud, high scream and fell backwards, holding its face in its deformed hands.

 

Sora scrambled up from the floor, running towards the door. He could see that Goofy had gotten up on his feet, shaking but otherwise uninjured, so he should-

 

Sora heard the hit a second before it came. A sharp pain shot from his back, numbing all of his senses and making him lose the feeling of his body. His legs gave up, sending him crashing hard on the floor, only barely feeling the impact as the pain took a hold of everything else.

 

His ears were ringing, and his vision swung, but Sora still tried to get up. He almost got on to his knees when something grabbed him and pushed him back down.

 

The ringing in his ears dulled down a bit, only to be filled with ragged breathing coming right next to them.

 

“Help…” the creature moaned, so close that it sounded horribly loud.

“ _Help…help…help…he…hehhh..hh…”_

Sora tried to move, his heart beating so fast it hurt, but long, black fingers wrapped around his arms and pinned him down as the creature turned him around.

 

Sora stared at the yellow eyes only a few inches away from his face, as the creature kept moaning without a mouth to speak with.

 

“ _Hhhhe…hhh..heahh…heart…”_ the creature let go with its left hand, only to press its hand on Sora’s chest, points of the claws pricking his skin.

_“Heart, heart….heart..heart..”_

 

The creature lifted its hand from his chest, ready to thrust the claws back down, and Sora squeezed his eyes shut.

 

The room shifted suddenly. All of a sudden Sora felt scorching hot licking his skin, and he heard a loud swoosh of an air. Then the creature on top of him screamed again, and Sora felt it let go of him.

 

He opened his eyes just to see the creature, smoking and smouldering scramble off of him, still screaming and writhing violently.

 

It sounded weird, though. The creature was right there, but the screaming sounded like it was coming from far away, edges of all of the other noises dulled.

 

He faintly heard footsteps coming closer, and someone looked down at him.

 

Girl with blue eyes.

 

She said something, judging from the way her lips moved, but Sora couldn’t hear anything. He opened his mouth, trying to tell that to the girl, but he couldn’t get a single word out of him.

 

Her face was becoming really blurry, and Sora could barely see her lips moving frantically, before all of her faded out and darkness took hold of everything.

**Author's Note:**

> A chapter per month has apparently now became a thing with my writing. Well, gotta go to school and everything kids ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> I felt like I needed a break from writing only The ocean's blue, but I still wanted to write something, so this thing that I had planned to come after the ocean's blue is here now. I'll still keep writing my other stuff, so it's a surprise for you what I'll update and when. 
> 
> Come to say hi to me on tumblr (Varpusvaras there as well), I usually put all my updates in there too! 
> 
> (also I thought I finally managed to write a shorter chapter this time. It's 43 pages. God help me.)


End file.
